


Chocolate Milkshakes

by Stories_By_Bagels



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles X
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Plot Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 12:07:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5966880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stories_By_Bagels/pseuds/Stories_By_Bagels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 2 am and each of them are still working on getting over everything that's been happening</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chocolate Milkshakes

**Author's Note:**

> Unless you've finished the story for X I would advise you not to read this until you have finished it.

It was the same scenery as the countless nights before. A vast and empty room that had a single spotlight illuminating its center platform. A lone body lay right in the middle and whether the person was alive or dead was hard to determine from how far back he was. He slowly approaches to check and see but moments before he reaches him the body flies straight up and hovers in the air for a moment. His body contorts and spasms soon after and is engulfed by a black goo that seeps out of every pore of his body. His somber expression is always the last part consumed and they always exchange looks before he disappears in the muck never to be seen again. It builds on itself before it takes the same grotesque form that he had seared itself into his brain.

It grabs him with one of its large hands and brings him up to the face. He squirms and shuts his eyes and the beast begins to squeeze him, harder and harder until he can’t take another breath. He feels his heart plummet as it throws him back down against the metal panel. It hurts so much and he wants to take in a full breath but he can’t. He lays on his side and watches as the monster approaches him with heavy foot falls. It whispers to him as it lumbers closer. The man can never make out what it is he’s saying and as it’s foot is about to come down on him he jolts awake in a cold sweat and heavy breaths.

He sighs and tosses his blankets aside making his way into the bathroom. He turns on the faucet and cups his hands under the water. He splashes his face a few times before wiping it off on the towel. Looking at the man in the mirror wasn’t something he enjoyed anymore. Heavy bags had begun to settle under his dull eyes, his cheeks looked hollow and his shoulders are constantly hunched over.

“You didn’t have a choice. He told you to do it. It was for the greater good. If you had hesitated who knows what would have happened. This was the only way it could have happened.”

His stared at himself for a little longer and then walked back to his bed. He sat down on the edge and opened his comm device. It was close to 2 am and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to go back to bed and let the demons come back for a second round. He sighed and got off the bed. He couldn’t remember if the clothes on the floor were dirty or clean but for the purpose of taking a walk he didn’t really care which it was.

He pulled on the first tank top his hands touched, an old hoodie he brought from Earth, and a pair of khaki shorts. He laced up his trainers and slipped a small knife into his left pocket and his comm device and keys into the other.

When he took these kinds of walks he always would wind up in places that had found memories attached to them somehow. This time his walk took him over to the testing hangar. The safety lights that ran around the edges of the Skell repair units and a light in the back corner were the only lights still on. A familiar silhouette was hunched over the desk that was there. He was surprised to see her out and up this late but after what had happened she had become so much more involved and serious. At first it was subtle, asking him to come in for more tests that kept getting more brutal but after a time she stopped asking for his assistance and would instead be constantly hunched over some new prototype.

He smiled and walked back the way he came towards the small diner whose open sign was still lit up in blue and red neon. He recognized some familiar faces and they recognized him, waving with glasses in their hands beckoning him to come over and join them. He shook his head and they returned to their drinks.

The woman behind the counter gave him a friendly smile. He asked for 2 chocolate milkshakes to-go, one with extra whip cream on top. She quickly whipped them up and after paying her he left the diner and returned to the hangar. The light in the corner was still on but the silhouette was now in a deeper hunch than before. As the man approached he heard the familiar sounds of a good night sleep.

He set down the milkshakes and gently placed a hand on her small shoulder. She shocked awake and snapped to attention.

“I WASN’T ASLEEP!”

“It’s ok.”

“Oh… hey Doug… What are you doing here?”

“Probably for the same reason you are.”

Lin didn’t say anything in response and instead relaxed a little, pushing aside the large blue print that had been in front of her.

“Here, you seem like you could use a little pick-me-up.”

Doug handed Lin one of the Styrofoam cups. She gave it a look of uncertainty and looked over at Doug to see if there were mal-intentions. He had already begun drinking his so Lin followed.

As she drank, memories of Earth began to take up her mind. She remembers sitting at a table with her mom, dad and a close friend, all of them enjoying a milkshake and some burgers at a really good restaurant that they loved going to. Everyone had smiles on their faces never suspecting the turmoil that had been looming on the horizon.

She let out a sigh as stared at the wall in front of her. Doug hadn’t said much either but she still wasn’t clear as to why he was also there and why he had decided to be a nice guy and bring her a milkshake.

“You know breaks are ok to take. It’s not healthy for a growing girl like you to push your body so hard. There’s so much time in front of us now that rushing things isn’t going to be the best decision.”

“But Doug we still don’t know that for sure. What if another alien race finds us and have similar feelings to the Ganglion? Will we be prepared to take on their tech too? Luckily we had Elma with us when Earth was going through the process of being evacuated but we don’t have that luxury this time! I don’t want to be caught off guard ever again! I never want another group of people to have to experience what we did!”

Doug frowned and a took a small sip of his milkshake.

“Lin… what your saying is very noble and I respect that you want to be well equipped for what may or may not come but doing this isn’t going to lead to breakthroughs. The only thing this kind of behavior leads to is… Look just… don’t short yourself some childhood ok? Take a break, get some sleep and don’t let your work engulf you.”

The girl took a few sips of her milkshake and she seemed to be dodging Doug’s advice. He couldn’t blame her work ethic. Everything that happened on the Lifehold, in his mind, wasn’t something a kid should ever experience. While she will grow and learn from it the emotional toll just wasn’t something he would want to burden her with. He was aware at how poorly he was coping with everything so he couldn’t imagine what kind of toll it would have on her.

“Doug I don’t need you babying me! I can handle myself just fine!”

“If that’s what you want then I won’t. I’m just trying to give you some advice so that you don’t fall apart.”

Doug met her gaze which showed a small fire in her heavy eyes. He smiled and tipped his cup back, downing the rest of his milkshake. He let out a belch that bounced off the walls of the empty facility. He thought he saw Lin smile out of the corner of his eye.

“I really miss him Doug.”

“I miss him too Lin.”

Doug looked over and saw small tears beading in the corner of her eye. He stood up, “I’m gonna try and turn back in for the night. I hope that you’ll be doing the same too soon.”

He started walking towards the entrance and took a glance back and saw Lin wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. He hoped that she did take his words to heart and take a breather but he also knew that Lin was a capable girl and really could take care of herself. Nonetheless he pulled out his comm device and started a message to Elma.

_Found Lin cooped up in the R &D hangar. Check and make sure she gets some decent sleep before her next mission…_

He slipped the device back into his pocket. He turned and looked back one more time and saw Lin’s form hunched back over the table.

**Author's Note:**

> this was going to be a lot longer in my brain but honestly i kind of like that i didnt try to make it arbitrarily long... sometimes its ok to just do something short and sweet


End file.
